The annual Kilkenny Chess Congress kicked with over 190 players attending in total, fighting for the 4 titles at stake, the prestigious Kilkenny Masters, the Major, the James Mason memorial and the Challengers.
Top seed ( by Irish ratings ) was Bogdan Lalic, but if we were using FIDE ratings, then 2nd seed, Gawain Jones would, of course, been top. Krasimir Rusev, a first time visiting GM from Bulgaria was also playing as was our own resident GM, Alex Baburin. IMs, Sam Collins, Mark Heidenfeld and Mark Quinn were also fighting for the coved Kilkenny Jersey, the traditional extra prize for the newly crowned Kilkenny Masters Champion.
The first round went almost to seeding, although the local 8th seed, Karl McPhillips lost to Arnaud Aoustin but great credit has to go to Conor ODonnell for holding GM Bogdan Lalic to a draw on board 1. Here is that game which Im sure Conor will remember for some time to come.
Alexander Baburin played a really good game against the experienced Kieran Moynihan form Cork, showing his fighting form early in the event.
In round 2, Gawain Jones, now on board 1 of course, beat our Polish visitor, Anatol Lokasto in a pretty smooth game while Alex had his fighting form matched by former Irish international, Paul Wallace, they shared the point in this game
Four players reached 2 / 2, and so were paired against each other, board 1 saw the all GM clash of Krasimir Rusev ( pictured left ) and Gawain Jones while the two Irish IMs, Mark Quinn and Sam Collins battled on board 2.
Mark Quinn beat Sam Collins in the following game while the following titanic struggle saw Gawain fall from his board 1 perch ! After the game, Gawain told me he thought he was better coming into the ending about move 38, and he probably over estimated his position, his 39....Ke7 was an indicator of this, 39....Be8 he thought, would have been better. In any case, our Bulgarian GM was in a hungry mood, hungry for the full point!
This left Mark and Krasimir on maximum points and the draw gave the white pieces to the Bulgarian, which he put to good use in this game. I suspect that Mark underestimated 15.d5! for white after the exchange sac, a very strong idea. In the meantime, Gawain ( pictured right, with a wry smile on his face ) was facing Bogdan Lalic. The point was shared when Bogdan claimed a draw by 3 fold repetition on move 31.
But the sensation of the round was Philip Shorts victory over Alex Baburin, the finish of this game is very pleasing to all, with the possible exception of Alex, of course. This put Philip head of the chasing pack, with his sights firmly on Krasimir. The chasing pack also included Sam Collins, Mark Heidenfeld and Paul Wallace, all victorious in round 4.
The Sunday morning pairings pitted Philip Short against Krasimir Rusev, while Bogdan Lalic played Sam Collins. Mark Quinn was facing Mark Heidenfeld on board 3 while Gawain could, quite justifiably feel a bit hard done by with the draw, after a loss to a GM in round 3, a draw with a GM in round 4, round 5 saw him facing the only other GM left to play, Alex Baburin with the black pieces!
Of the top board encounters, the first to finish was Bogdan Lalic vs Sam Collins ( Sam is pictured left ), which resulted in a fine win for the young Irish International. After his defeat Bogdan told said the Sam you played like a computer , which Sam took as a compliment and thanked Bogdan ! This fine game can he viewed here.
This result was quickly followed by Gawain Jones victory over Alex Baburin, who was not having a good event by his standards. I dont have this game because the two grandmasters involved had the cheek to play this game on board 4 and only the top 3 were on DGT boards. ( I certainly didnt have time to enter it in to database manually !
While the two Marks were sharing the point on board 1, Philip Short had a real go at our tournament leader, the following encounter was a exciting game to follow live. This victory left our visiting Bulgarian GM on 5 / 5 and I guess you cant get much better than that!
The final round pairings looked like this;
| 1 | Sam Collins | 4 | Krasimir Rusev | 5 |
| 2 | Gawain Jones | 3.5 | Mark Quinn | 3.5 |
| 3 | Mark Heidenfeld | 3.5 | Philip Short | 3.5 |
I was genuinely expecting a rush of quick draws in the final round as the Chess started at 1:30pm and the Irish Rugby team were taking on the mighty All Blacks, kicking off at 2:00pm. I was pleasantly surprised to find only a handful of grandmaster draws, the vast majority of the players were obviously here to fight for the best place in the event they could possibly get.
Mark Heidenfeld and Philip Short ( pictured right ) had a relatively quick draw, quick enough to allow Philip to catch the second half of Irelands remarkable game against New Zealand in the rugby ! ( Ireland lost by two points, a game they should certainly have won ) Gawain Jones and Mark Quinn did not get to see any of the match as they were busy playing the following game.
Meanwhile, Sam needed to beat Krisimir to catch him in the standings, and thats exactly what he tried to do in this fascinating encounter. He was better for a long time, but this guy has proved very, very hard to beat as this draw was the only half point he dropped in winning his first Kilkenny Masters.
Prizes in the Masters
1st Krasimir Rusev 5.5
2nd -3rd = Gawain Jones and Sam Collins
Best non-IM or GM Irish player Philip Short
It should also be noted that, at the prize giving, Maurice Buckley of Kilkenny Chess Club presented Sam Collins with one of the coveted Kilkenny jumpers. It should also be noted that Gerry Graham warned him never to wear it at Bunratty !
Prizes in the Major
1st = Martin Markering and Jack Short
3rd Miroslav Gallik
1st - Grading Section - Shane McCabe
2nd - Grading Section - Paul Reilly
3rd - Grading Section - Scott Mulligan
Prizes in the James Mason
1st = Dennis O Connell and Joe Reid
3rd = Pat Coleman and John Buggy
1st - Grading Section - Andy Keenan
2nd - Grading Section - Ben Cullen
3rd - Grading Section - John W. Connolly
4th - Grading Section - Shane Sheedy
Prizes in the Challengers
1st - Henry Li
2nd = Liam Coleman and Padraig Dwyer
1st - Grading Section - Eoin P. Doyle
2nd - Grading Section - Dean Copeland
3rd - Grading Section - Gabrielius Pocevicius
4th - Grading Section - Timothy Casey